Foot covering



A. W. OSHEA Sept. 19, 1961 FOOT COVERING Filed March 11, 1960 INVE/NTOR. ANA/5 M UJ/MA BY ArTazA/EY United States Patent 3,000,118 FOOT COVERING Anne W. OShea, 23 Robin Road, Rumson,

Filed Mar. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 14,455 1 Claim. (CI. 36-10) mitted stockingless persons to try on new shoes or have permitted new shoes to be tried on only after the customer purchased stockings. Although stockings are generally handled by shoe stores, shoe customers have been reluctant to purchase stockings merely for the purpose of trying on shoes. Consequently, shoe stores have lost considerable business during that time of the year when their customers are stockingless.

The present invention has for its object the provision of an economical foot covering which may be supplied by the shoe stores to their customers at little or no cost to the customer when trying on shoes and which will aiford complete and hygienic protection and which may be discarded and thrown away after use by the customer.

Another object of my invention resides in the provision of a foot covering of this character which is formed as a fiat envelope from a single blank of flexible material folded over on itself and secured together along its outer edges.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a foot covering of this character which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture and which will afford hygienic protection for the foot of the wearer.

A further object of my invention is to provide a foot covering of new and improved construction and consisting of a single sheet of flexible plastic material folded over on itself and secured together along its outer edges and in which the bottom or sole-forming portion of the covering is adapted to be folded inwardly and upwardly, thereby permitting the covering to be stored fiat and enabling the same to be expanded when slipped over the foot of the wearer when trying on shoes.

The above and other objects as well as the advantages of my invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which a preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated by way of example.

In the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a foot protected by a foot covering embodying my invention and about to try on a shoe.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the foot covering of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but with the foot covering in expanded position ready to be slipped over the foot of a wearer, and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a blank fiom which the foot covering of the present invention is formed.

Referring to the drawing in which numerals of like character have been used to designate similar parts throughout the several views, reference numeral 10 designates generally a foot covering constructed in accordance with my invention and adapted to he slipped over the foot 11 of a wearer when trying on shoes 12.

The foot covering 10 comprises a flat boot-like envelope "ice formed from a thin sheet 13 of vinyl, polyethylene, or other suitable material having a relatively high degree of flexibility for the purpose hereinafter set forth. The sheet 13 is suitably shaped to provide -a pair of symmetrical boot-forming sections A and B disposed on opposite sides, respectively, of a transverse medial line of fold C as clearly shown in FIG. 6.

Adjacent the medial line of fold C, the boot-forming sections A and B are folded inwardly as at D and E, respectively, to provide a pair of soleforming portions 14 which extend along the bottom of the foot covering as clearly shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The boot-forming sections A and B of the sheet 13 are adapted to be heat-sealed, cemented, or otherwise suitably secured together along their longitudinally extending side edges as indicated F and G in FIG. 2 so as to provide a flat envelope open at the top end and adapted to be expanded to slip over and accommodate the foot of a wearer when trying on shoes, the sole-forming portions 14 permitting expansion of the bottom or sole of the footreceiving envelope as clearly shown in FIG. 5.

Adjacent the open upper edge portion of the foot covering 10, each boot-forming section A and B of the sheet 13 is preferably folded over on itself for a portion of its length along the lines H and I, respectively, to provide a reinforcement 15 for the foot covering 10 and permit the necessary degree of pull required when putting on the foot covering without danger of tearing or otherwise damaging the same. Although the upper edge portion of each boot-forming section A and B is shown as folded inwardly, it is obvious that the same may be folded outwardly with equal effect to provide the necessary reinforcement.

In order to provide ventilation for the feet of the wearer, especially when the same foot covering is used while trying on a large number of shoes before making a selection, the upper and lower portions of the foot covering 10 may have punched or otherwise formed therein a number of holes or openings 16 to permit air circulation through the foot covering.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a simple and economical foot covering which can be stored fiat and which by virtue of its novel construction for the bottom or sole portion thereof will permit expansion to accommodate the foot of the wearer. Moreover, complete and hygienic protection for the foot of the wearer is provided by the present invention inasmuch as the foot is completely covered by a relatively thin sheet of highly flexible material.

It will also be noted that by employing a relatively thin sheet of vinyl or polyethylene for the foot covering of the present invention, even though the sizerof the covering may be relatively larger than the foot of the wearer, the covering will nevertheless conform to the foot of the wearer upon insertion of the covered foot into a shoe due to the flexibility of the plastic sheet, thereby making it unnecessary to furnish more than one size of foot covermg.

From the foregoing, it is believed that the construction and advantages of my invention may be readily understood by those skilled in the art without further description, it being home in mind that numerous changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention *as set out in the following claim.

What I claim is:

A disposable hygienic foot covering to be worn while trying on new shoes comprising a relatively thin sheet of vinyl plastic material having a pair of symmetrical sections disposed on opposite sides, respectively, of a transverse medial line of fold and secured together along their opposed longitudinal edges to provide a normally flat foot-i'eceiving envelope open at oneend, each section beu ing provided with openingsfor ventilation, each section having a first portion adjacent the open end of said enve- 1ope,;a so1efor ming portion adjacent said medial line of fold and an intermediate boot-forming portion, saidlfirst" and said hoot-formingipoftion Being' disposed on opposite sides, respectively, of oa transverse line of 'fold' andsaid first portionlbeing folded oversaid boot-forming portionto reinfofce flie' open end of'said envelope, said boot forming portion and said sole-fiorn ing po rtion being disposed onopposite sides, respectively, of a second transverse; line of fold spaced from said medial line of fold and said sole formingvp rtion being folded, inwai dly and,

upwardly along said boot-forming portion, whereby upon insertion of a foot into the open end of said envelope'th'e sole-forming portions of the respective sections will permit expansion on opposite sides of said medial line of fold.

References gited 'iii the fiie oi-this patent 'I HUNIIED STATES PATENTS 1,644,217 Wreford 1 Oct. 4, 1927 1,865,709 Slociim July 5, 1932 2,318,148 W Ettelbrick et al. May 4, 1943 2,714,771 Olfene Aug, 9, 1955 2,795,865 Backiel' :I une 18, 1957 

